Goats with Goiters??!

[FlockEweFarm]

Yikes! Sooo, I will NOT be draining anything from anybody! I just took a crash course on CL at the Dept of Ag's website, and I was not happy with what I read. Seems like I might be making a trip to Minnesota to hunt down my goat herds previous owner! If it is CL, then my sheep has now been exposed, my two Boer girls, my dogs that love to drink the milk from the milker... Nobody is coughing except from the constant smoke from the controlled burns all around us, and she is gaining weight, but if its CL, then everyone has been exposed, and now my sons 4H project is thrashed because I cannot in good conscience, bring a healthy animal around until I confirm what we have been exposed to. I so want to committ and act of violence upon that person who exposed my kids to disease and hurt these goats. un

 

[PotterWatch]

I hope it's not that! Let us know what you find out.

 

[dfchaser]

They are called waddles, or goat jewelry. They are not harmful to goats, more like a bug hairy mole.

 

[helmstead]

CL is only contagious when an abcess bursts or if it's internal and being shed in the urine, feces or milk.

SO...if they haven't burst yet you might be lucky.

Hurry up and segregate the new animals (to a place you'll never have goats on again), get one to a vet to have a sample collected and tested for CL. Sounds like that is probably what you're dealing with.

Not all abcesses are CL, so there is hope, but you can't be too careful. Once it's in the ground, you've got it.

You can also vaccinate your healthy goats if your SURE none of the new goats are shedding it.

 

[Smoky73]

The wattles you can have a vet remove if you need to, they are just decorative really. Some of my pet goats have them, my goats are Toggenburgs and togg crosses and it seems to be inheritable as my crosses, most get them.
I was looking to see if I had a picture on photobucket, but I do not.

 

[FlockEweFarm]

Update! Hello all of you who helped me out. I contacted a local goat expert and we caught up the smallest and most expendable of the herd that had the largest abscesses on his neck. By the time we caught him, the bulges were the size of baseballs! It took some doing, but once we got him down, we did aspirate the largest bulge and all the came out was a very clear, very thin fluid. The bulges went down and have stayed down, and while we had him roped, we were able to finally trim his hooves, which were soo bad, they were like shoes from the something you would see in Arabian Nights. It took a half hour just to do the front hooves! Spazz was captured and had the same result, and the same kind of hooves, so the professional opinion is that it is not CL, it is just abscesses related to the wattles. All of the goats have put on weight like crazy, and they hardly raise their heads from the ground in the pasture, and when offered COB, they eat like its free, and consequently they look like new critters. The chickens that were rescued are all laying, and are getting their feathers back, and the ducks are ...well they are ducks. Thank you all for your help and your advice!

 

[helmstead]

I don't think you can rule out CL definitively without a culture...and I've gotta ask about the statement "abcesses related to their wattles" because AFAIK wattles don't abcess.

 

[FlockEweFarm]

The goat expert felt the due to the disgusting and foul conditions that they had been living in, coupled with the fact that the billy had been beating the snot outta them for God knows how long, they had suffered injuries to their necks in several places, and the scratches had obviously been infected in the past. They had been vetted last year for the abscesses and the vet report that I was able to get info from, found no disease processes, but we did maintain sterile technique just in case. I am going to have the little wether butchered in a month or so, after he puts on some weight, but I am really considering contacting the livestock comission about how badly these animals had been treated by the previous owner. The are as feral as barn cats and all have issues with hoof care, and nutrition, as well as injuries that had never been treated. The milker has put on 20 lbs since she has been with us, and has tamed down, but she is still very food aggressive and her coat is still very dry and brittle. I am trying to get her to dry up so she can just concentrate on getting healthy throught the winter.

 

[helmstead]

BOSS will really help that hair coat.

Kudos to you for putting the time and energy into rehabing them. I would love to see before and afters of your milker...

I do hope your expert is correct. Stress on emaciated goats can cause a host of problems immunologically, so it's feasable.